Sterner Stuff
by Pivot
Summary: Armada: A certain Minicon team goes AWOL, and Laserbeak is sent to fetch them in.


_Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. I do not own Laserbeak. I do not own Uppsala, bizarre though that may seem._

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**Sterner Stuff**

It was a busy night for the humans of Uppsala. Laserbeak could see that the moment he warped in above the city rooftops. There were crowds of white-hatted revellers in the streets, and bonfires building into life among them.

This close to the centre of town, it was an odd mixture of the twisting cobbled streets and open, smoothly-paved avenues he'd learned to associate with different periods of building. The Autobot camera-bird flew along the gutters, flitting through the shadows cast by the light of the bonfires. It was harder to hide in the clean lines of the modern streets, but then they gave him a better line of sight. He scanned the singing crowds carefully: somewhere in that mess of organics and merriment were his targets.

He was lucky. It was less than twenty-seven minutes before he found them. Laserbeak dropped down, past the hat-layer, and landed on Iceberg's shoulder.

The Minicon looked around amicably, obviously expecting a human or one of his partners. His optics brightened slightly under the brim of his hat. "Heya, Laserbeak. Come to join the party?"

"What are you doing out here?" Laserbeak snapped, over his comlink. Chances were no human could hear them over the singing, but this way was safer – and more convenient for them, too.

"Celebrating," Iceberg said patiently. Ransack and Dune Runner had made their appearance in front of them.

Laserbeak made an exasperated noise and looked at Ransack. The team's leader looked back at him calmly. "What's going on, Ransack?"

"It's very simple," Ransack replied, his dark green armour looking almost black in the orange light. "We were interested in the Walpurgis Night celebrations over here, so we decided to pay a visit."

"Or, if you want to get technical, Iceberg found out there was a winter festival and decided for us," Dune Runner said.

On the edge of Laserbeak's vision, Iceberg grinned, unabashed. "Gotta admit I had the right idea."

"I don't think it even counts as a winter holiday. All these songs are about spring and this booklet said it's about the end of winter," Ransack said.

"The end still counts. Anyway, we missed all the other ones – you've gotta leave me this."

Laserbeak fluttered his wings and whistled for their attention. "Look, it really doesn't matter. You've got to come back to the base before someone notices you."

"We've been here since it got dark," Dune Runner protested, "and there's been no trouble."

"Exactly. And everyone's either drinking or thinks we're in costume," Ransack said. "Believe me, I'd have pulled us out immediately if there was trouble."

"Yyyeah – if there was trouble we couldn't handle, anyway," Iceberg amended, eyeing his leader. Then he looked back at Laserbeak and touched the brim of his hat, chuckling. "Besides, we're in disguise."

Laserbeak groaned. "You know you're not supposed to leave the base! It's too dangerous! If the Decepticons turn up, the Autobots won't be able to protect you! You must return now or else…"

He realised, suddenly and uncomfortably, that he was the focus of three fixed, glowing stares. Dune Runner was looking blank; Iceberg openly unimpressed (partly because he had more face to do it with).

Ransack just looked back at him coolly. "We're not in any danger we can't handle, Laserbeak. The Decepticons – if they knew we were here, which they have no way of doing – might send their Minicons, but if we couldn't deal with them, we could always warp out."

"Don't play mother hen with us," Dune Runner added, to Laserbeak's confusion. "We don't need care-taking all the time. And don't go telling us Prime or someone says we should come back. We're responsible mechanisms: we can make our own decisions."

"Um," he started, then realised he didn't know what he was supposed to say.

"In any case, we're not Autobots. You can try to order us back, but rest assured it won't get you anywhere," Ransack said firmly.

"But-" Laserbeak began to protest, and then realised that that was, basically, what he had been trying to do. And it wasn't going to work, either.

He tried to regroup his argument. What exactly was the problem? Didn't they have a point? Had anyone explained why he had to bring them back, or had they just rushed to get it done, because that's the way it worked?

They just shoved me onto the launch pad and said 'go get 'em'. Smokescreen looked too tired to deal with this, anyway…

Duty was duty, though. And there were probably a dozen good reasons he just couldn't think of at the moment. Laserbeak had a nasty feeling 'there's probably a good reason – I just don't know it' wouldn't get him very far with the Minicons, though.

"It's still not safe," he said. "You can't be sure. Anything could happen."

"Right," Ransack agreed. "It suits us perfectly."

"Adventure Team," said Dune Runner cheerfully. "Or did you forget?"

Right. Damn. Laserbeak wilted a bit. This was another argument he wasn't going to be allowed to win.

"No hard feelings," said Iceberg consolingly. "If you'd been Prime himself, we wouldn't have done it."

"If you'd been Prime we wouldn't have listened _and_ we'd have flipped you off for good measure," Dune Runner agreed. As much as Laserbeak wanted to believe it, he had enough sense to be doubtful.

On the one hand, he thought, crouching a bit lower on Iceberg's shoulder, they seemed to be right and what more could he do here?

And on the other, he was an Autobot, and he had principles. Just because your orders _seemed_ bloody-minded and stupid didn't mean you should ignore them. There was that whole thing about trust-

_Like the trust they're showing Ransack over there?_

And then again, he'd been kicked off on this daft errand with no warning and no instructions. Surely that earned him a little creative licence.

The Minicons had been waiting patiently while he wrestled with his conscience. Laserbeak looked around at them hesitantly. "Um, would you at least accept an Autobot escort until you get back?"

Out loud, he thought he heard a muttered "Atta boy," from Iceberg.

Ransack considered for a moment, his yellow visor brightening a little further. "Agreed. Just let us get you a disguise, and we'll be set."

"Fair enough." Laserbeak dipped his head. Dune Runner turned and disappeared into the crowd.

Iceberg shifted his weight. "Hey, since you're staying, mind taking some pictures for us?

"No problem." It was what he was best at. Laserbeak was still touched that he remembered. He settled down and started focusing on that. Best to try and relax now.

Later, he'd have to explain to someone that the Minicons had won the argument again.


End file.
